NEW YORK — The defense in the trial of Daniel Penny his last witness shouted to the stand Thursday.
Penny is the Marine veteran accused in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely aboard the subway last year.
To give evidence previously testified, a screaming, threatening Neely boarded an F trainAnd Penny tried to restrain him.
Expert witness says that in his opinion the chokehold did not lead to death
The defense called Dr. Satish Chundru, a forensic pathologist, as an expert witness. He told the jury he has performed more than 9,000 autopsies.
Chundru testified that he had reviewed all the material in the case and that he believed “the chokehold did not cause death.”
Dr. Cynthia Harris, the medical examiner who performed Neely’s autopsy, has previously testified she ruled his death compression of the neck before getting toxicology and other reports back.
She sat on the stand listening as Chundru told jurors in a complicated case like this that he would need the results of those tests — histology, toxicology, genetic testing and psychological data — to make a ruling on the cause of death.
The defense asked, “The fact that someone is held in a chokehold and dies does that make it a death by chokehold?”
“No,” Chundru said.
“Did Mr. Penny strangle Mr. Neely?” the defense asked.
“No,” Chundru said.
Forensic pathologist says he is shocked that the cause of death was determined so quickly
Chundru explained that in order to qualify as death by chokehold, you have to apply enough constant pressure to render someone unconscious and maintain that pressure for an extended period of time.
Using diagrams and Penny and Neely’s video of the subway incident, he told the jury it didn’t look like Penny was doing a good air or blood constriction.
Earlier this week, Harris testified that Neely had something synthetic marijuana or K2 in his system and having sickle cell disease did not cause his death.
Chundru told the jury he believed the cause of death was the “combined effect of the sickle cell crisis, the schizophrenia, the struggle and restraint, and the synthetic marijuana.”
He also noted that there have been deaths linked only to schizophrenia, K2 or sickle cell crisis, citing a report published last week.
Defense attorneys wondered, “If we had taken away all the health and drug issues, would Neely have died?”
“No,” Chundru said.
Under cross-examination, prosecutors pointed out that Neely’s official cause of death had been unanimously agreed upon during a consensus hearing between the city’s medical examiner’s office.
Chundru told the court that he has worked in 20 offices and that was shocking to him In this case, they were so quick to provide a cause of death.
A referral will be made to the witness on Friday.
Alice Gainer
